I was used to Tubbs back in Michigan but I knew from experience those rounded little tubes would kill me on the Sierras. Enter the lightning ascent... I was climbing 45deg. hills (albeit, struggling) without any slippage. And the heel raise bar is a real calf-saver. You can flick them up with the guard on a trekking pole. The rubber seems durable enough at cold temps to survive many seasons and I don't feel any circulation loss from tightly-compressed bindings. Overall a great purchase.And fun fact! These metal-rimmed shoes are lighter than those plastic wedge ones from MSR. At first glance you'd think that's reversed, but you save a few ounces with these!

These are my first pair of snowshoes so I don't have anything to compare them against, but thinking ahead of the steep climbs that awaited me on my mountaineering trip to Colorado in January, I wanted to have the most grip possible. So I decided to go with the Lightning Ascent. I also bought the optional floater add-ons (used from another site... sorry Moosejaw). In short I had no problems with traction going up or down the mountain, even when the top of the snow was more ice than snow. What really stands out is the Televators that really save you from muscle aches on the inclines. I can't wait to break these out on my next trip this winter!

Used on a trip up Mt Rainier last weekend and they worked phenomenally. They bite into snow and ice extremely well and are super light. I hiked 2 miles up in these switched to another pair we got from Costco on the trip back and the difference was very noticeable as they would slip and take a while to bite into the snow. I would highly recommend these.